Inbetween The Lines
by No Time To Cry
Summary: Sometimes, it's easy to read a persons story. It's easy to look at someone and label them -freak, misfit, loser- without ever caring about the facts. Simply put, it's easy to not know the truth. That is what this is. The truth of what words really mean.
1. Edd

A/N: Just some character development that I'm playing around with. I will do roughly two to four chapters for this, depending on what I'm feeling. I plan on doing several stories like this, actually, for the different Cul-De-Sac kids. I hope you all enjoy and will let me know which paragraphs are your favorite!

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><p><strong>1. Bruise -<strong>

Edd's parents are not home often. They travel the world on 'business', often disappearing for weeks at a time. Sometimes they call home. Usually the mail their son post-cards with a clipped 'love you' and a new task that they want completed. They have never told Edd what they do for a living but he can easily list all of the places they have been. Grand Paris and wild Borneo, the Great Wall and the Rocky Mountains. Places that Edd has only dreamed of journeying too. And one day, they come home early. Edd has not gotten all of his chores done. So they scream at him and they degrade him and they call him a useless boy; but not once do they raise a hand towards him. In his haste to get to the sanctum of his bedroom and away from them, Edd trips. Slams his shoulder against the dining room table. And cannot decide if he should blame the blossoming bruise on his parents or on his own clumsiness.

**2. Group - **

They have known each other for years. Since they were just little kids and Edd first moved into Peach Creek. Now, as almost adults, they are an even tighter group. Still known as let downs, mess ups, and disappointments. Still called 'The Eds' by their might-be-friends. Still looked down upon by any and every adult that they have ever come across. But, together, Edd knows that they could take on the world if they wanted to. That they could stand up to anyone who thought other wise - because they were more than friends and more than family. They were a group, and they would never let the others down.

**3. Fight - **

It started out like any other day. Ed and Eddy stole him from the house in the early morning and drug him down the street. They set up a booth, set up a scam, and, like any other day, they did well for a few hours. But, like every other half-baked plan they have cooked up, it failed in the end. So Edd went home, to a room covered in yellow paper, to an empty house. And he sat there - for maybe hours or maybe minutes, until suddenly he came to a single conclusion. He wasn't going to take it anymore. He was going to start fighting back.

**4. Friendship - **

It starts out tentative, this strange relationship of theirs. People whisper in the halls when they stop to say hello. Stare when they attend each others events - one football and soccer and baseball, the other science fairs and history fairs and spelling bees. Wonder how they even started to talk to each other. After all, it is the schools biggest nerd and the star football player. Why would they be speaking to each other? They don't see how much the two boys really have in common. And they don't know that the friendship of Kevin and Edd started in the school therapists office.

**5. Light - **

It isn't a slow change, not really. It's just that, one day, a scam goes a little too far. Kevin's words cut a little too deep, the insults grow a little too scornful, and the house just seems far too empty when Eddward finally returns home. And, the next morning, when the teenagers of Peach Creek line up for the bus, they see it. Sudden. Unwelcome. And blazingly obvious, even for those who don't look at him very hard. It isn't a slow change, not really, it's just that one morning the light is gone from Eddward's eyes.

**6. Heart - **

Valentine's Day is a teenage boys delight. A day to smooth talk what ever lovely lad or lass they have been eyeing, to get the romance started, and to just relish in the glory of pink and red felt hearts everywhere. And, in Peach Creek High, those hearts really were everywhere. The lockers, the teachers office, the labs, the restrooms. And, no matter where Edd went, those damned hearts always seemed to taunt him. Mock him. Tell him he wasn't good enough - because not a single one belonged to him.

**7. Red - **

It's a mesmerizing color, red is. None more so than the shade of red that stands stark against porcelain, or so Edd thinks to himself. The dark crimson fluid runs down the crease of his arm, drips down onto the crisp white of his bathtub floor, and then disappears in a swirling mass of pink-tinted water. And it stands for so much - for frustration and anger and despair, for sorrow and hate and loneliness, all at once and not at all. Because it's just a color. Yet it still lifts Edd's soul, if only a little, to see it seep from the slice on his arm.

**8. Open - **

There are few things that a teacher could suggest that Eddward would find unreasonable and useless. No amount of homework brought those thoughts to mind, no unforgiving stares or look-through-you gazes. But this is different. This is his own personal life, the one thing that he has managed to keep to himself for seventeen long years, and she wants him to just tell this boy, this tormentor, everything? To open up and spill every secret that he has ever kept? Every lie that he has ever told? Ridiculous and unacceptable and not going to happen - especially not with Kevin.

**9. Hair - **

On his fourth birthday, Eddward is given a black beanie-hat. It is a gift from his parents, given with stiff smiles and fake laughs that seem all to real to his young mind. They have Edd wear it everywhere; to the store, to the park, to his friends houses, and when he starts it, to school. It is four years before he realizes that having to wear this black hat everywhere, even in the house, isn't normal. Another year before he figures out why his parents make him wear the beanie at all times. Eddward is nine and it comes out when he doesn't get all of his chores done before his parents arrive home. His father screams at him - calls him useless and worthless and a bastard son. No one has seen the firebrand locks that lay beneath Eddward's cap since then.

**10. Quiet - **

_Pit-pat, pit-pat, pitter-pat-pat-pat_ goes the rain on the roof. The wind howls and tears at the shingles of the house, grabbing at them and wrenching them free, slinging them across the yard and into the street. The metal trash can at the front of the house falls over with a bang and then screeches as it is blown across the concrete driveway. Lightning flashes, the only light in the house, and reveals a quiet boy sitting alone in his bedroom. No older than eleven yet all alone in his house. Thunder rumbles and covers up the sound of the front door opening, then closing again - but it isn't his parents because they are in New York, no where near Peach Creek. He cannot hear the footsteps over the sound of the pounding rain. But the noise his bedroom door makes when it creaks open is heard and he yelps as he spins around, pulling the blanket up to his chin. Lightning flashes again. And Eddy gives him a grin.


	2. Eddward

A/N: The second, and last, chapter for Edd has been posted! I don't think that this one is as great as chapter one, but I hope that you all will prove me wrong! I would also like to clarify how this story works, as there seems to have been some confusion. I will be posting two chapters for each character, all in this story. When I do each character twice, I might start to go back and re-do them, but I haven't actually gotten that far. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>1. Brave -<strong>

Through out his life, Edd has been the butt of many jokes. He has been picked on, bullied, and laughed at. Trampled and used and forgotten. And that is fine, or so he tells himself, because he knows he isn't brave enough to do anything to stop them. It gets worse when Edd gets into highschool. Then it isn't just Kevin who taunts him, but many others. And, still, Edd tells himself that it is fine. He deals with it quietly - until he steps outside of the school one day and sees someone, big and strong and _a jock_, shove Eddy. Hard enough for the other boy to hit the ground. Edd is not brave but he knows he can be quiet no longer.

**2. Nightmare -**

_It's gym class and the coach has stepped outside for just a moment. Left the students to their game of dodgeball, because they are only first graders and it only makes since that they will behave and follow the rules. Coach Benson doesn't hear them start laughing but he does hear the shrill, high-pitched scream of a child in pain. By the time he gets in, Eddward is curled on the floor, clutching his arm. He is crying, sobbing, gasping for breath -_ and when he sits up in bed, tears running down his face and still trying to get air into his lungs, it's hard to know that it wasn't just a nightmare.

**3. Listen -**

He can hear them fighting again. Hear the screaming all the way across the street - raised voices and shouted insults and a loud crash as something glass shatters. Edd has never been able to figure out why he seems to be the only kid in the neighborhood to hear the arguements. But he is. And he tries not to listen, really he does, because he knows that it isn't his business and, were he in Kevin's place, he wouldn't want any one to know either. But he can't _not_ hear the yelling. He can only try not to take Kevin's hostillity towards them the next day to heart.

**4. Perfect -**

"There." Edd says, setting the wrench down on the layer of newspaper spread out on the kitchen table. It has taken most of the day, and several large books borrowed from the library, but he has finally been able to get the kitchen sink to stop leaking. Just like his father asked him to. _Make sure the kitchen is perfect_, said the note. Eddward plans to do just that.

**5. Follow -**

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Eddy played a large part in Edd's social downfall. Yes, the behatted boy would never be popular. Would never be loved by his peers or adored by anyone but the teachers whose classes he aced. Still, it would always be the part he played in scams that ruined Edd's life and destroyed any chance he had of befriending his neighbors. Yet he would still follow Eddy, follow Ed, until the day they all split up. Because they were the closest to _real family_ that he had.

**6. Wonder -**

Sometimes, the kids of the cul-de-sac wonder. They look at the fancy two story house on the other side of the street, the one with the purple front door and the always empty driveway, and they try to figure out what's so different about it. Why it stands out so much more than all the others. They look at the excessive amounts of cleaning supplies that Eddward brings home each week and stare at the bags of grocery he hauls into the house. Kevin watches him shop. Nazz looks on as he gathers the mail each morning, the paper each evening. Sarah watches as he tries to clean her older brothers room, asks him if his _parents will worry about its state_. Sometimes, the kids of the cul-de-sac wonder. They just never do anything to find out the truth.

**7. Blue -**

It's a bright Summer day in Peach Creek. The sun is shining and a gentle breeze blowing. Three days before school starts and the entire cul-de-sac is peaceful in a way that would normally set of alarms. But no one worries, no one peers around buildings before turning a corner, no one wonders where The Eds have gone. The three boys are down in the park, laying on the side of a dandelion covered hill, and staring up at the blue, blue sky. And, for a moment, everything is fine.

**8. Repition -**

Wake up. Get dressed. Read the new notes left by his parents, feel the ache in his chest grow and grow. Get breakfast. Clean the kitchen. Go outside. Talk to Ed and Eddy, make a scam and build something new. It goes wrong. Listen to the other kids laugh. Watch them point. Listen to Kevin's taunts, always hide how it hurts. Go home. Do chores. Go upstairs, and shower and lie and pretend that everything's alright. Get out. Get changed. Go to bed, and know that tomorrow will be exactly the same.

**9. Wings -**

Someone once said that _'A person is born to fly, to be free. A person is born with wings, just so they can reach their dreams_.' Eddward has read this quote time and time again, in English class and in countless books he has gotten out of the library. And, now, he is expected to write a quote on it. On why he thinks the author wrote this, thought this, felt this, and why he thinks this is true. So Edd does. He sits down and writes two thousand words, all nothing but a lie. Because, he finds himself thinking time and time again, as he stares out the window and down from the roof and at the ground from the clubhouse he once built with Ed and Eddy, if a person were meant to fly then he would not be so tempted to do so.

**10. Know -**

As a child, Edd has gone through many things. He has been hated and lied to and abandoned. He has been forgotten and thrown aside and bullied. Edd has been loved and trusted and cared for. He has been remembered and picked up from the ground when he thought he was broken and protected. He is an adult now; fresh out of high school and headed for college. And, after all these years, Edd still _knows_ the truth. _Knows _that it isn't just childish anger making him think this way. No. Eddward _knows_, with every fiber of his being, that it is Ed and Eddy who are his true family. They are the ones that would do everything for him and more.


	3. Kevin

A/N: Well, here is the next chapter for you. I have to say, I am so beyond happy with how this story is going. I honestly didn't think that it would be so popular! I hope that this meets everyones expectations!

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><p><strong>1. Night -<strong>

Kevin didn't believe in monsters. He never had, never would. They were just stories that parents told to kids so they would behave. He didn't think that there was a creature under his bed or in his closet of lurking in the shadows. That would be stupid. And childish. And everything that his mother didn't need to deal with right then, or so she told Kevin whenever he would come to her with a problem. So, no, he didn't believe in monsters. Just like he didn't believe the scratching on his bedroom window that night was a tree branch or the shape in the corner of his room was just his imagination.

**2. Bike -**

There has only ever been one steady constant in Kevin's life. It is not his family, not his friends, but the shiney red bike that he recieves on his ninth birthday. At the time, it is almost too big for him. His feet can barely reach the pedals and steering is impossible. But it is freedom. And as Kevin grows, so does the bike. He fixes it up and keeps it like new and it fixes him up and keeps him moving forward. Until the night before his seventeenth birthday, when his father comes home drunk and mad and ready to pick a fight and destroys it. And suddenly Kevin's world seems to have fallen apart.

**3. Perfect -**

Nazz and Kevin had been friends longer than anyone else in the cul-de-sac. They were the first two families to move in, only a week a part from each other, and they hit it off right away. The friendship lasted. And even as things started to change, in both of their lives, they stuck by each other. They were family - but no one else could see that, no one else saw that they were brother and sister. No. To the rest of the world, they are the perfect couple. Sometimes Kevin wished that they really were together.

**4. Crowd -**

Five seconds left on the clock. Kevin has the ball tucked under one arm, dark brown eyes locked onto the other end of the field. There is sweat running down his face, burning his eyes and blurring his vision, and dirt is smeared across one cheek. He tastes salt and copper. Feels the adrenaline surging through his veins and the hot summer sun beating down on the back of his neck. And as he crosses that line and the buzzer goes off, he is lost in the roar of the crowd. He has won the game, won their admiration, and found a place for himself where he is looked at with pride and respect.

**5. Lost -**

Kevin is seventeen years old, almost eighteen, when it happens. Practice runs late and Coach Evers insists on driving his boys home. Doesn't want them to get hurt walking at night, or so he tells them. Kevin's house is the last one they visit and at first everything seems fine. The lights are still on in the kitchen though, so Kevin snatches up his bag, gives the older man a quick goodbye, and then makes a bee-line for the door. The shouting starts before he gets half-way to the front door - loud angry voices, screaming obscenities and threats, making promises that should never be made. His fathers silhouette appears in the window, waving his arms and pointing at something. A moment later there is a crash as glass shatters. The next morning, Kevin is pulled aside and told to go see the school therapist. He will be taken off the team if he refuses. He cannot remember feeling so lost before.

**6. Shattered - **

Neither of them are perfect and both recognize that fact. They also recognize that trying to help fix the other when they themselves are so broken, so shattered, is senseless. But they refuse to give up on each other. Nazz leans on Kevin and Kevin leans on Nazz and they never talk about the real problem because niether wants to do more damage to the other. Still, they both know that this cannot last forever. One day, Kevin won't be able to lean on Nazz. One day, Nazz will not be able to find comfort in Kevin. One day, their brittle lives will fall apart. And, when this happens, they know that there will be no hope left for either of them.

**7. Alcohol **

It wasn't a hard decision to make, not really. Kevin had seen the effects that alcohol could have on someone. It wasn't pretty - it was terrifing and nauseating and something that he saw far too often. Every night he went home and saw the spitting image of himself, only older and taller, drunk. Every night he went home and heard the spitting image of himself, only not what was there during the day, scream at his mother and threaten to shoot her in between the eyes. Kevin didn't want to be like his father, in any way, shape, or form. So when the party got out of control and one of his team-mates offered him a beer, it didn't take a second thought. It didn't make him hesitate. Kevin just got up and left.

**8. Summer - **

The sun is high in the sky by the time they meet up. It is the last day of Summer. Tomorrow is the first day of their last year at school. Niether knows what to expect - because so much has changed over the summer, so much has been started and ended, and they can already feel the strain. It scares them both. Yet, sitting by the edge of the pond where they first met, they refuse to let themselves think about it. Refuse to think about it because this may very well be Kevin and Nazz's last moment of peace for a very long time. They fully plan to enjoy it.

**9. Strange - **

Kevin's first day of _therapy_ with the school councelor, Mrs. Joahanne, is strange. He isn't going to have one-on-one talk sessions with her, for which he is ubelievably grateful, but he will be paired with another student, which destroys the gratefulness and sends a jolt of unease through him instead. Their stories won't be told to each other at first, rather they must willingly tell their partner why they are there. So, with an irritated sigh, Kevin slouches into his chair and waits for his 'partner' to come in. The door to the office opens after just a few minutes, revealing none other than Eddward. And Kevin just _knows_ that his sessions are about to get much stranger.

**10. Truth - **

Somedays, Kevin just wants to tell everyone the truth. He wants to let them know that he isn't really happy and that everything he has ever told them has been a lie. He wants to tell the other students that he isn't dating Nazz and never will. That he may already like someone else. May even _love_ them - but then he stops and second guesses himself, because can he honestly say that he knows what love is? He can't. And, even if he could, he is afraid of what others will think. What his peers and his family and _everyone_ will think. So Kevin says nothing and just lets everyone make their own conclusions. It's better this way, he tells himself, it's better not to tell the truth.


End file.
